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During the intense schedule at the fall general meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops each November, not every interesting exchange makes it into our stories. But there was a moment during the debate on the bishops’ “Faithful Citizenship” document yesterday that is too good to pass up.

Usually when a committee rejects proposed amendments to a document, the full body of bishops approves that recommendation with little discussion. But when an amendment suggested by Auxiliary Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of Chicago was turned down, he soldiered on by citing a very contemporary example.

At issue was a section of the document that referred to “the intentional targeting of noncombatants in war.” Bishop Paprocki wanted an amendment that would change the wording to “the direct and intentional targeting.” The committee argued that the change was redundant and unnecessary.

But “we’ve all heard of hunters who have shot people in the face when they did not intend to,” Bishop Paprocki said in a not-too-veiled reference to Vice President Dick Cheney’s February 2006 hunting accident. “That’s direct, but it’s not intentional.”

The comment drew a hearty laugh from the bishops, and Bishop Paprocki’s amendment passed on a voice vote.